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(No Modem,

DE WITT C. KING-av R. A; BOUTILIBB. FOG-SIGNALING APPARATUS.

UNITED STATES l PATENT Trica-g DE WITT C. KING AND ROBERT A. BOUTILIER,OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNORS TC THE EDSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY,OF SAME PLACE.

FOC-T1l SIGNALING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 546,163, datedSeptember 10, 1895.

Application sediments so, 1891i."V sannita. 530.366. (remodel.)

To a/Z whom it may concern.-

Be it known that We, DE WITT C. KING and ROBERT A. BOUTILIER, residingat Boston, in lthe county of Suffolk and State of Massachusette, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fog-Horns to be Soundedby Mechanical Means; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as Will'enabler o others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to improvements in fog-horns to be sounded bymechanical means and adapted to be used on vessels, and moreparticularly to that class of fog-horns in which the horn is sounded byWorking a suitable handle or lever, which lever operates a suitableairpump forcing air into an air-storage chamber from which it issupplied to the horn.

The object of the invention is to produce a simple, compact, andefticient device,one

easily repaired and not liable to get out of order.

The invention consists of improvements in 2 5 the air-pump, the airstorage chamber, the

connections between 'said parts, and in minor details of construction,as will be fully described hereinafter.

lleretofore in fog-horns of this class the air- 3o pumps have beenprovided with pistons requiring frequent renewal of the packing in saidpistons; and the connections between the pumpcy1inder, the air-storagecylinder, and the horn have been made by lead, tin, or other g5 metalpipes soldered in their places, which required the services of atinsmith when they needed repairs and therefore rendered useless ifbroken While a vessel was at sea. On account of the rigid nature of thematerial 4o used for such connections and the hard usage they receivesuch connections are very liable to become leaky at the joints andtherefore useless. Thus the primary object of our invention is toovercome these objections.

The invention is carried out substantially as shown on the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure l represents a plan View of our improvedfog-horn. Fig. 2 represents a central longitudinal section through theair-pump, 5o the air-storage chamber, and the casing which surroundssaid parts.

Similar'letters refer to similar parts Wherever they occur on thedifferent parts of the drawings.

The ainpump cylinder is made with au npper portion a and a lower portiona', joined together by means of suitable flanges on said portions andscrews or bolts a2, which pass through said lianges, or they may bejoined 6o in any other suitable manner. An internal chamber a3 iscontained Within the upper portion a, and a similar internal chamber atis contained Within the lower portion a' of the air-pump cylinder. Aflexible concaved diaphragm b separates the two internal chambers, theconcaved side of ksaid diaphragm preferably being toward the upperchamber. This diaphragm is held by its edge betweenv the iianges on theupper and lower portions 7o ofthe pump-cylinder.

Convex plates c and c are secured respectively to the upper and undersides of the diaphragm b by means of the bolts c2 c2, substantially asshown, and for the purpose of sup- `porting said diaphragm during itsoperations,

as will be described hereinafter. To the plate c is secured the pump-rodd., which extends upward through a stuffing-box a5 in the head of theupper portion of the pump-cylinder and 8o through the top of the 'outercasing e. The upper end of the rod d is connected to the operatinghandle or leverf by means ot' the link or links d'. This handle or leveris fulcrumed at f to the bracket or standard g, which standard issecured to the top of the casing e, and is provided with the surfaces gand g2, which limit the movements of the lever in either direction.

The upper and lower portions of the pump-l 9o cylinder are provided,respectively, with the inlets h and 72,', which inlets are each providedwith the check-valve c', having its seat upon the upper end of thethimble t', screwed into the inlet, substantially as shown, said valvesbeing limited in their movement up from their seat by means of the barh2 extending across the inlets, substantially as shown. By con- ICIstructing the valves 0l as described and shown on the drawings they aremade at a very low cost and are easily removed and replaced.

An air-storage cylinder 7a is contained within thecasing @and is incommunication with the upper and lower chambers in the pump-cylinderrespectively by means of the tubes Z and Z', each tube being providedwith the checkvalve Z2 to prevent air from returning to thepump-cylinder from the air-storage cylinder after it has passed thecheck-valve. Thus it will be seen that the airpump is a double actingpump causing the drawing and forcing of air by either movement of thehandles or leverf, and when the lever ismoved upward and downward on itsfulcrum it will cause the diaphragm b to raise and lower, which actionwill cause air to alternately enter the chambers in the pump-cylinderthrough the inlets h and h and be discharged into the air-storagecylinder Zr; through the tubes Z and Z,the check-valves t t' and Z2 Z2preventing the return of the air.

A tube m extends from the air-storage cylinder to a casting n, screwedon the casing e, and the horn proper o is secured to said casting, beingscrew-threaded on its end and screwed into a screw-thread in thecasting, which screw-thread, however, is not shown in the drawings. Thetube m., casting fn, and horn o form an outlet for the air from thestorage-cylinder, said outlet being open at all times. Thus it will beseen that when air is forced into the air-storage cylinder underpressure it will escape through the horn and cause the horn to besounded.

. In order to cause an uninterrupted blast of the horn the air-storagecylinder 7c is provided with the concaved flexible diaphragm 7c',secured at its edge to the llange on the cylinder. To the upper side ofthe diaphragm 7e is secured the tubular post or projection k2, whichprojection is slotted and extends up- I ward on either side of the yoke7c3, secured to the top of the cylinder 7a. A spring 7a4 is placedwithin this tubular projection aud a plate h5 rests upon the spring. Ascrew is screwed through the yoke 7c3 and presses against the plate h5,causing the spring within the tubular projection to exert a pressure onthe diaphragm, which pressure is adjusted by means of the screw.

As the capacity of the air-pump is greater than the amount of air whichcan escape through the tube mv andthe horn, air will be stored withinthe cylinder 7c and a continuous movement of .the levcrf will causesuflicient air to be supplied to the cylinder Zo to cause a pressure insaid cylinder, which will raise the diaphragm against thespring-pressure exerted thereon. This will cause a continuous blast ofthe horn.

The tubes Z Z and mare preferably made of rubber hose or other flexibletubing and forced over suitable thimbles secured to the parts .withwhich the tubes are to communicate, so that they may be easily removedand renewed at low cost; also, by making the air-pu mp cylinder in twoportions, joining them together by screws or bolts and the diaphragmheld between such portions, said diaphragm is easily removed forrepairs.The same is the case with the diaphragm for the air-storage cylinder.Thus it will be seenA that when any part of our improved horn which isliable to be injured is injured it can easily be replaced by a perfectpart at small expense without employing skilled labor to do it.

Having thus fully described the nature, construction', and operation ofour invention, what we wish to secure by Letters Patent aud claim isl.In a fog horn to be sounded by mechanin cal means', an air pump havingan upper lian ged casing, a lower flanged casing, valved inlet andoutlet for each casing, a flexible diaphragm held between the flanges onsaid casings forming upper and lower chambers therein, an operating rodattached to said diaphragm and projecting upward through the uppercasing, and an operating lever attached to said rod to operate saiddiaphragm to cause air to enter said chambers and to be forcedtherefrom, combined with an air receiving cylinder in communication withthe outlets from the pump chambers having a spring pressed flexiblediaphragm, and a horn connected to and in open communication with theair receiving cylinder, for the purpose set forth. y

2. In a fog horn to be sounded by mechanical means, an air pump, a hornand connections between the pump andhorn combined with an air storagechamber within said con` nections having a flexible diaphragm, a yokeabove said diaphragm, a slotted tubular projection on the diaphragmextending on either side of the yoke and a spring interposed between thediaphragm and yoke for the purpose set forth.

3. An air storage cylinder having inlet and outlet, an air supplycommunicating with the inlet, a flexible diaphragm, a yoke above saiddiaphragm, a slotted projection on the diaphragm extending on eitherside of the yoke and a spring interposed between the diaphragm and yoke,for the purpose set forth.

Il. In a fog horn to be sounded by mechanical means, an air storagecylinder having a flexible diaphragm, a yoke above said diaphragm, aslotted tubular projection on the diaphragm extending on either side ofthe yoke and a spring interposed between the diaphragm and yoke,combined with an air supply, a horn and connections between the airstorage cylinder and the horn and air supply for the purpose set forth.

5. In a fog horn to be sounded by mechanical means, an air storagecylinder having a flexible diaphragm, a yoke above said dia- IOO IIO

phra-gm, a slotted tubular projection ou the diaphragm extending oneither side of the yoke, a, spring interposed between the diaphregm andyoke and a screw adjustable Wit-hin a, perforation iii the yoke andacting upon said spring to vary the amount of pressure exerted ou thediaphragm by said spring, for the' purpose Set forth.

In Witness whereof We have hereuu to signed our names, in the presenceof two subscribing 1o Witnesses, this 21st day of November, 1894:.

DE VITT C. KNG. ROBERT A. BOUTILIER.

In presence 0- f HENRY CHADBOURN, HERBERT L. CHAPIN.

